Sure. Quit while you're ahead. Stop reading after SpeakerForTheDead?. The quality of the series declines sharply after that. --Lieven

The series seems to slow down a bit after Enders Game and Speaker for The Dead but If you understand the in-depth...well, almost politics of Xenocide then it is just as interesting as the others. I havent read Children Of The Mind yet though so I'm not sure.

I'm afraid I don't agree with that at all. The basic premise ( "that wishing makes it so" ) was a bit silly, but after that I thought all the rest was just as involving. I've more to say, but wouldn't want to spoil for anyone else... -- AlanFrancis

I read the Ender series right after the Gateway series by FrederickPohl?. They stood in sharp contrast to each other. In the Gateway universe, humans make themselves immortal (as AI written in Basic :). In the Ender universe, humans have always been immortal. Taken side by side like this, the Ender series is not at all silly, just deeply disturbing. -- RichardKulisz

EndersShadow?? I didn't know Card has made another book for the series! I loved all four books. The style of EndersGame or SpeakerForTheDead? is sober, rich and full with incredible feelings and thoughts. But The next two books allow the exploration of the mind and of the soul... I found them really stimulating. Certainly the style of writing is different.. more à la Asimov, if you want... but considering things were precipitating faster and faster, I think it's a wonderful way of transferring the anguish and hurry to the reader.

Something that really impressed me from those books was both the Buggers and Jane... maybe the opposite extremes of the HiveMind and CollectiveIntelligence discussion... On the other hand, the characters are really credible and real... I got the same feeling when I read Songmaster (spelling???)... I really love that book!

"Buggers" is right :-) Ender's Shadow is basically a retelling of Ender's Game but from the point of view of Bean, the little kid in Ender's Dragon army. It's only available in the US in hardback at the moment (so I haven't read it, I'm waiting for a UK paperback :-). It's supposed to be pretty good... You can find out more on http://www.hatrack.com/ (the official OSC website - named from the Alvin Maker books). -- AlanFrancis

I couldn't force my way past the first ten pages or so of Shadow. It either must get substantially better or it just isn't to my taste. It's the first of OrsonScottCard's books that I was really disappointed with (the other was the latest one in his AlvinMaker? series. I don't know whether he's changed or I have. -- PhilGoodwin

I loved Ender's Shadow. The book is all about survival. Bean is a wonderful, complex character - who manages to survive in spite of his horrible beginning. He really is the complete opposite of Ender, but Ender couldn't have survived without Bean. --AnnAnderson

There're two more in the series out now: Shadow of the Hegemon and Shadow Puppets. They're basically following Bean and the rest of the battle school alumns through post-War Earth. The Shadow books have a much different style from the Speaker trilogy, much closer to the original EndersGame. OrsonScottCard has described them as "a giant game of Risk," and that's basically what they are - international intrigue and power plays leading up to the unification of mankind. -- JonathanTang

Have you read his novel 'Pastwatch - the redemption of Christopher Columbus'? A bit different, but I liked it a lot. Orson has a knack for making you feel the day to day courage and ethical dilemmas of characters in a way that few writers do.

I first got into OrsonScottCard when he wrote short stories for Omni magazine. Although I think many of his novels are great, particularly 'Speaker for the Dead', I always go back to his short story collections. Wonderful stuff. 'Quietus' and 'Fat Farm' are a couple of my favorite short stories of all time. -- MichaelFeathers
I loved Fat Farm. I think all the somec related stories stick in my mind. I always thought there was something wonderful about being able to skip accross time. Seeing what the future holds. The stories in Hot Sleep, Capitol, The Worthing Chronicle and 2 or 3 in Maps in the Mirror all contributed to a sense of time spiralling out that I've only seen one other place. AsimovsFoundation. -- AlanFrancisCategoryBook, CategoryScienceFiction